A special university course has been launched in collaboration with the Swami Vivekanda Cultural Centre. The first distance learning course in the Indian lingua franca was launched in January. The High Commissioner of Delhi for Sri Lanka: ‘A bridge of understanding and communication between our countries’.
At least 36 men between the ages of 25 and 35 have been arrested in a series of operations against the terrorist network launched in April in the country. The militants recruited new recruits via WhatsApp, with rituals and oaths.
Two archbishops (including Galstanyan) are in prison after a police raid on the patriarchate in Echmiadzin. Pashinyan directly accuses Catholicos Karekin II and calls for his removal, while the Armenian clergy responds by invoking the excommunication of the prime minister. According to the government, Moscow is behind the Church's ‘manoeuvres’, but other voices denounce the use of branding all opposition with ‘the stamp of Kremlin spies’. In the background are geopolitical balances and negotiations with Azerbaijan.
Today's headlines: Moscow accepts Afghan ambassador's credentials; The Burmese junta has “dismissed” 93 child soldiers; An hour-long phone call between Putin and Trump fails to bring “any progress” on a truce in Ukraine; North Korean crosses border into South in demilitarised zone, questioned by Seoul intelligence.
In the Chinese province of Zhejiang, the authorities have recently detained priests, nuns and ordinary Catholics who made a trip abroad last year; their goal is to induce underground Bishop Shao Zhumin to join a government-controlled Church body. Places of worship and the relatives of underground priests have also been targeted. One priest says, “we want to follow our conscience” without having to submit to the political whims of the Party.
The relics arrived on 13 June, the day war broke out between Iran and Israel, and are travelling through a country that is recovering from the war between Hezbollah and the Jewish state. A stop in the tormented south is planned. They are a precious seed according to the nuncio, Archbishop Borgia, and encourage “the faithful to undertake the same path to holiness,” says Lazarist clergyman.
